towerofanimus | I've been crawling in the dark // Looking for the answer

Characters: Days!ku (

prayerless)
Setting: Somewhere in the tower; backdated to not too long after this encounter and a handwaved conversation with a certain Nobody
Format: Action to start with
Summary: Riku has questions in concern of all things Xehanort. Aqua hopefully has answers. Do the math.
Warnings: Certain Keyblade Masters may blow up upon finding out about certain old men having arrived, but other than that this should be safe. Hopefully.

[To say that the encounter with that elderly man - with Xehanort - hadn't unnerved him, would be plainly a lie. (With the way his gut had tightened through the whole conversation... even though, he supposed, he had gotten out well enough. Especially maybe considering his track record.).

Talking to Naminé about that hadn't exactly soothed his mind either, not when she had just told him that Aqua should know more... He's always known that she held some things back, had always respected that too, but that doesn't mean it's not frustrating every now and then. Especially now.

So here he is now, searching the tower for Aqua while putting together his questions. There is after all much for him to ask.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[He presses his lips together when she asks 'why'; he knows at very least part of the truth - he's seen the door, he's seen the moon far above the World That Never Was, but... what Ansem... Xemnas... Xehanort truly was striving to achieve through Kingdom Hearts is beyond him. He suspects it's one of those things one most likely would be better of not knowing too.

Instead of answering immediately, he takes a step back and leans against the wall of the tower, arms crossing over his chest.]

...When a Heart falls to Darkness, it becomes a Heartless. But... when a particularly strong Heart falls to Darkness, it leaves behind a shell... a Nobody.

[For a moment he tries to find a way to describe them, the white, twisting shape of Dusks and Creepers when he remembers... he knows she has seen them before, actually.]

A few months back, when the tower folded into one room... the large, white monsters you helped me out with... those were Beserkers, I think... just one kind of lesser Nobodies.

In very rare cases, when the fallen Heart was exceptionally strong, the Nobody retrains their human shape and memories. Over the years, most of those Nobodies gathered to form a group... the Organization XIII.

[He hesitates a moment, wondering if he really should add that last piece of information... but... given who the tower has brought in the recent days, he probably should, he thinks. It's best if someone outside of himself, Xion and Naminé is able to spot their members.]

...You can usually recognize them by this cloak- [He unfolds his arms and reaches up to tug slight at the cloth of his own.] -and by the 'x' in their name.

[Aqua has always thirsted for knowledge. Knowledge helps foster understanding, and she wants so badly sometimes to understand. A Keyblade Master has to be wise -- wisdom can't be achieved through ignorance.

So, she listens dutifully. As Riku explains, she begins to piece this information in with what she already knows and what she has just learned. Xehanort was split into two beings, one of which lacked a heart.

She seems to come upon some startling conclusion in her moments of silence following Riku's explanation, if the widening of her eyes is any indication. If this Xemnas man had no heart, then could it be that Terra's body had finally been freed from Xehanort's clutches? She wasn't sure how to ask Riku for confirmation of something like that, though.

So she follows a slightly different thread of conversation, more relevant to what they're discussing.] Are the Organization XIII a danger to us? [More important than finding out the fate of a friend she couldn't help was ensuring the safety of the ones that were actually here. If this Organization was an enemy, she needed to know what she was facing.]

[Riku pauses as he considers the question... after his first brush with them in Castle Oblivion it had never been one, not to him at least - not with Sora asleep, not with what he and the King discovered after months of tracing their tracks. Not after what they did to Xion.

By themselves, the Nobodies probably weren't a thread - Naminé is the best example of that, as is Roxas (and maybe even Axel?); despite all the things DiZ says about them never having a right to exist in first place (Because while DiZ says many things, is knowledgeable and maybe even right about most of what he says, in this? In this he is wrong.)

But even though this isn't about Nobodies in general, just the Organization... which would be easy to answer, if it wasn't for certain people to consider...]

It depends, I guess... A few of them, I wouldn't consider a danger... or an enemy... But overall, yes.

The Organization is a danger... and a threat to the worlds. Maybe not in it's general existence, but certainly in intent.

[He might no know what Xemnas is really planning, but anything involving Kingdom Hearts likely spelled no good for them.]

[So they were people to be wary of, but not necessarily to attack on sight. She doesn't recall encountering anyone by Riku's description as of yet, so she supposes she'll trust her instincts when it happens.]

I see.

[Part of her wants to ask him. The other part knows he couldn't possibly tell her anything new. But she wants to know, so badly.

So, eventually she asks.] ...would you happen to know anything about-- about Xemnas and Terra? [Her voice sounds younger then, though she doesn't mean it to. Younger with the hope that somehow, more than a decade away, Terra made it out alright. That at least one thing she did had a happy ending for somebody.]

[His lips press together as he stays silent for the moment... he's been avoiding thinking too much about the fact that Terra had been possessed as well. About the implication that connection might carry for him, for the way he had met Ans- Xehanort the first time. That night at the Islands when he...

He pushes that thought away, and that of the realization that it must have been more than ten years since Terra was possessed rises, and just the horror of that thought makes him pale a shade again for just a split second, makes his stomach twist and really, if he had just been by himself he might have thrown up. It had only been a week for him maybe, and most of that his heart had spent first drifting then wandering the Realm of Darkness, but... Those moments of helplessly watching as Ansem moved his body, used his voice and that dark, unnatural Keyblade, as he stabbed Maleficent and unlocked her heart, as he attacked Sora with every intention to do the same to get to Kairi's, as Kairi finally awoke and he finally managed to grab enough control to allow her to escape and then-

He doesn't like to think about it all too much.

Yet, the memories are close to the surface now and later he will go and channel the horror of it by taking it out on the one or other monster. Now is not the time to deal with those particular demons though. Certainly not in front of Aqua. Or really anyone with maybe exception of Naminé.

Eventually, when he trusts his voice again, he finally answers.]

No. I admit... I have yet to deal with Xemnas in person. Or so much as see him. But... there is no doubt on my mind that he is the one pulling the strings behind the actions of the Organization.

[Not with all that he knows from Xion. From Naminé. From what he's found out while keeping tabs on the Organization himself. Not when he knows how hard it had been to fight the possession just hours after it had happened. He doubts that it gets easier as time passes... and ten years...

He shudders involuntarily.]

I've been crawling in the dark // Looking for the answer

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